25 YEARS AGO

This is one anniversary I wish did not occur.  Evil does exist in this world and it came to America.  This is a picture of ground zero, World Trade Center where mad men hijacked planes and flew them into the towers.  Many lives were taken that day and more continue to die due to cancer caused by inhaling the smoke and other toxic fumes.

With a 3rd airplane hijacked, the next destination by the evil terrorists was The Pentagon.

With their 4th hijacked plane and last attack planned to hit the United States Capitol.  Below was their flight plan.  But thanks to the heroics of men and female flight attendant on United Airlines flight 93, their plan was thwarted.  The men made sure the plane would go down before reaching Washington, D.C. and the female flight attendant contacted airport security to provide information of what was happening and seat numbers of the terrorists involved.  I get choked up every time I even think of those brave souls.

GOD BLESS AMERICA, all first responders and those who sacrificed their lives.  Question is, do you think evil still lives among us just waiting for the next opportunity? 

Saundra

IT'S ABOUT TIME

It has been a month since posting an antique rug show so guess it's about time to do another.  First photo is a dog and kids, said to be hooked late 19th to early 20th century with dimensions of 29 x 49.

A faded General George Washington rug, no date or dimensions provided.

Another George Washington rug circa 1900, 35.5 x 47.5.

Home Sweet Home with date of 1922 hooked in.

A horse with a corner cut off with no explanation as to reason ~ maybe damaged and salvaged or perhaps cut to fit in a certain area after it was hooked. Size is 18 x 36 and hooked late 19 to early 20th century.

A landscape early 20th century 17 x 34.5

Another  dog rug with leaves at the corners measures 29 x 75.

Recently found this cats rug and is still offered for sale.  Said to be a Mennonite hooked rug from 19th century (25 x 39).

And, another horse, this one with an odd looking mane.  Looks more like a blanket thrown across it's neck than a mane.  Hooked 1930, 34.5 x 44.5.

That's it for this rug show.  Meanwhile I'm working on my collection of hand hooked rugs for this year.  

Enjoy you long Labor Day weekend and happy hooking.

Saundra

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MULTI TOPIC CHIT CHAT

Remember the Dollar Tree?  Me too, the old one; and remember when it changed to the $1.25 Tree.  Today I went there hoping to find a small witch broom in the Fall/Halloween section to use at the top of the Witchy Woman piece to hang at the front door.  No witch's broom was there but did pick up a 2027 calendar which last year I paid $1.25 for.  This year the price is $2.  Yes, still inexpensive but noticed Dollar Tree carries more expensive items now well beyond $2.  Wonder if they will change their name since Dollar Tree name is no longer valid?

I didn't grow up in a 'throw away' society but rather a 'make do' one.  So decided to replace the elastic in a perfectly good pair of working shorts.  They were comfortable but the elastic was shot.  Now they are good to use again.

The sink hole was finally repaired.  Just hope I don't need to call them back in another 5 months due to another sink hole appearing in the area.  This was the before but with the almost 3 week wait the hole got a little bigger.

Here is a photo right after the repair and guess they placed sand on top to absorb any wet asphalt and help harden it.  

Then came a storm in the afternoon and washed away the sand so it now shows the repaired area a little more clearly.  Kept my feet in the photo so you could see the size of the repair.

Witchy Woman is all hooked and will do the binding/covering back during The Five. 

Now the back ~ looks like I have a few ripples to fix before the other sides are stitched.

There's just one rug my frame now, Crossed Hearts.  The heart is completely hooked and am plugging hooking away on the hit and miss background.  Next project still not drawn on linen but present plan is to hook Magdalena's Double Horses first.

Lastly, do you need or want a little hooked something for Halloween?  FOR SALE, "Hester", a design by Lori Brechlin and hooked by me, which was in Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine.  $148 plus shipping.  Contact me if interested.

That's it folks.  Happy hooking.

Saundra

PATTERN FRENZY

On advice of legal counsel [friend] 😁, I have enlarged a couple rugs from my 'to hook' list to have at the ready.  The master patterns are made but not drawn on linen yet.  This way it should make the decision easier to choose when I need something to hook.  Actually I sketched a fourth rug below but didn't enlarge it, kinda changed my mind on this one for the time being.  Besides, three is plenty to choose from.

These are the three I sketched and enlarged.   Magdalena's Double Horses ~ can you believe I've never hooked this one?

This next one I'd hook without the ornate border and just use a border up to the red but make it a tad wider.  I think the fancy border takes away the charm of inside.  I've named it Show Horses. 

And this third one you know was already in pattern form but couldn't make up my mind if I was ready to hook it or not.  So now there are three to choose from.

Hot and humid here as summer comes to an official end in the next couple days.  Happy hooking.

Saundra

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HALLOWEEN RABBIT HOLE

In a previous post I mentioned googling "royalty free witch or Halloween images" and showed a pic of my in-progress Witchy Woman.  Maureen said Witchy Woman reminded her of the "Halloween Beistle" images she used to put in her windows.  The next day Maureen emailed again saying she went down the Halloween rabbit hole and sent me a few images she found during that visit.

 

So that is yet another resource for anyone who wishes to do a small Halloween, or BIG Halloween project.  As promised, here is a picture of Sheila's Witch design.  Quite nice and her drawing is better than my hen scratching, redrawing and erasure marks.

Plus, and with permission, she sent me a witch she hooked playing with various textiles and it is a Katie Allman design.  Thanks Sheila.

And now today I finally pulled a few loops to have something to show you since my last post.  My excuse is... "life got in the way", as Lauren would say.  Well, at least I know it will still be ready for Halloween since it is so small.

That blue background is a nasty thready piece of thin cotton I purchased early on in my rug hooking endeavor.  Saw it at the thrift shop and decided it was cheap enough to put in my stash.  Many times I'd thought of tossing it but glad it survived long enough for this project.

BTW, the cotton stitched at the left side near the tree has teased out and making my life miserable.  So used a strong piece of wool to tie it to the sides until getting this far.  The piece of linen was small so was trying to salvage as much inside for hooking as possible.  

Saundra

CROSSED FLAGS UPDATE

Nothing says "I love America" more than two crossed flags in a heart.  

As the heart is completed I've chosen to do the hit and miss background since that is how the antique was hooked since it will be a companion piece to the others I've hooked.  

Am now finding myself in the same urgent search for the next project.  Yes, Witchy Woman is at my side but that is smaller than a chair pad size so won't take long.  📣 Now Hear This.... Maureen mentioned to me how Witchy Woman reminded her of the vintage Beistle cardboard cut outs she used on her windows.  So that is another search you can do for ideas.  Will mention this again when doing my next post and where I'll share Sheila Kennedy's Witch drawing, with her permission.

Saundra 

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WITCHY WOMAN

The Witchy Woman will now take a breather while I contemplate other color choices and further design ideas.  So far I've been working mostly from my wooly worm bags ~ the dark wool strips are #8 cut with slivers used for crosses.  The moon is hooked mostly with #8.5 cuts but more narrow around the feet and face.  Am not happy with  the shape of the cape but am not reverse hooking it.  Also, the yellow is much brighter here than in person.

Also am wondering if the moon colors would be more spooky if  'wandering' into the sky.  Whatever colors it is I choose for that?  Guess you could say it's still in the planning stage.  Heck, the entire piece of linen is only 13.5 x 15.5 and part of that will be turned back and attached to the craft felt to hang on the front door.  So it should still be completed waaay before Halloween.

Wish there were more enticing antique rugs listed for sale to inspire me for the next project.  There is one design enlarged but not drawn on linen since my interest fluctuates daily.  Am holding out for one that says, "You're IT!"

Sheila K. sent me a picture of a sketch she made some time ago of a witch and sure hope she draws it up and hooks it.  Seems she has found her mojo again.  Anyone else jumping on the bandwagon?  Happy hooking.

In other not-so-happy news, I've somehow managed to get poison ivy again.  Yes I did work outside Monday removing limbs and picking up pine cones and even pulling a few weeds.  But none of them had "leaves of 3..."  My chin and neck have it, one arm, spots on both thighs.  Went to bed last night with long sleeves and thought about using an old covid 19 mask to cover my chin.  Covering myself like a mummy is why Robin gave me the name "mummy dearest" MD for short.  So both she and Lauren will refer to me as MD often.  Now you know what it means when you see comments from them using those initials.

Saundra

CROSSED FLAGS BEGINNING

This is drawn about the same size as the shield part of the triptych I previously hooked.  Actually I was on a roll and didn't want to stop and change horses patterns midstride.  But thought the flying witchy woman should get started to maybe entice someone to join me or do their own hooked or applique piece before Halloween.

Once Crossed Flags is done I will have completed all 3 sections of this antique rug shown below.  The original antique measures 30 by 88, a whopper of a rug to hook so knew mine had to be hooked and enjoyed in sections.

Remember recently I had my driveway repaired, patched and seal coated?  Well take a gander at what I noticed about two weeks ago.  The opening has gotten somewhat larger since taking this photo.

It is about 5" deep but not sure how wide it goes as I didn't want to get too close and fall in.  So off to Lowes I went to buy a safety cone so people wouldn't drive over that area and get a tire stuck.  The left side (facing the house) is what I've been using to exit and enter.

Of course it  couldn't have happened BEFORE the driveway work was done so now they have to come back.  And if you look again in the area behind the cone and in front of the trash container you will see an area I asked them fix which was a dip where (I think) moles were traveling thru.  

The asphalt guy has been called and said he'd be here to repair it "in a week or two".  It has been a week since he was here to assess the work.  Since rain is predicted for the rest of the week guess it won't be this week it gets fixed.  Is this new issue a result of the moles changing their travel route?  Or is it because when the property was cleared of trees almost 30 years ago the roots have finally rotted and collapsed making this sink hole?  Who knows.  It just means more money spent on something other than wool.

Saundra

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A WEE BIT OF HEADWAY

As mentioned in the previous blog post, idea #1 was to hook just a witch shadow profile on a small rectangular piece of linen.  Which then developed into idea #2, hooking a flying witch in a moon and having just the circle of the moon and witch hanging on my door.

Found an old piece of Belgian linen in my stash measuring 13.5 x 15.5 which required sewing on cotton to extend the size to fit the frame.  And drew the witch and moon on the linen.

Hmmm...nice, but didn't seem complete, so idea #3 began to develop.  I plan to have just creepy looking dead tree limbs extending into the moon and tombstones extending across the bottom and into the bottom edge of the moon.  The drawing isn't quite to my satisfaction, which means it may even change a little during the hooking process.

For the finish, will put a piece of interfacing to stabilize the hooked piece and completely cover the back with black craft felt from my stash.  As I have a covered front door and storm door for added protection won't have to worry about weather.

If interested in doing something small too and with little cost, remember to google 'royalty free images' for whatever motif you'd like as your muse.  Happy hooking.

In other rug hooking news ~ tomorrow during The Five Cathy's cat will be bound and labeled using up the last of the pre-made labels.  In the evenings this last week I was also working on the final part of a Triptych ~ Crossed Flags in a heart.  Below is a photo of the original section I'm working on. 

Lower humidity this afternoon, thank goodness.

Saundra

WHAT I'M THINKING....

Since I just finished the small cat mat relatively fast, also have more small pieces of linen hanging around and with October (Halloween) just a couple months away, an idea was forming.  I'd like to have a small Halloween hooked design hanging on my front door instead of a fall wreath.  I do have a couple PDF patterns from Lori Brechlin, although they are a nice size they are too big and too detailed for what I want.

For you non-hookers and quilters, you could do an applique, for us rug hookers it would be a small and relatively fast piece to hook, even for Lauren whose life seems to always get in her way.  So I googled 'royalty free witch silhouettes' and there were numerous shadowy ideas.  There were pumpkins, cats, spooky houses, a witch with her crystal ball, flying witches and much more.  

Here are some free images I copied and saved.  My first thought was to hook just a profile silhouette to keep it simple and call it done.

But then wondered if I'd like a flying witch better.  

For those who like the image of a witch stirring her brew and love cats, there one for you too.  There are many more images than I've posted here so do that royalty free image search, take a gander at them yourself and perhaps you will be inclined to participate too.

Then wondered if I'd like a raven flying in front of a Halloween moon or a scared cat with a curled tail and hunched back.  So you can see there are many ideas rolling around in my cranium and still haven't decided.  

So, y'all think about it and when I decide will do a blog post about it.  All are welcome to join me and share photos with me.  Meanwhile do some googling, of free clip art of witch/Halloween images.

Saundra

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Princess Cathy's Cat

It's all hooked but am not happy the eyes don't match despite my ripping out and rehooking them a few times.  The face was hooked in #8 cut but the rest was mostly #8.5 cut except for the eyes.  So am calling it done ..but then there are a few more month's before Christmas to revisit the dang thing.

If you'd like to see the two photos of Cathy's cat previously posted, you can see them HERE.  I decided to use the cat's position in the box but use wool as close as I could find in my stash to match the sofa the kit-kat is resting on.  Not a perfect match but close enough so no dyeing was needed.

The finished dimensions are 14 x 15, so rather small.  To draw it any bigger would make the cat appear larger than a normal cat or if a bigger pattern the cat would get lost in the background.

So before you even ask, here is the answer ~  I don't have anything planned as my next project.  But am working out an idea in my head which some of you might be interested in, even you non-rug hookers.  More on that later.

Saundra

A TAD OF ENTERTAINMENT

 First thing I do in the morning with coffee is search for antique rugs but only save pics of those to my liking.  Of course there are pages of rugs yet many are very ornate florals and Orientals, neither of which I care to hook, also abstracts or modern day Claire Murray designs.  Occasionally I'll find a few that warrant sharing.  Sadly there's been none recently which float my boat enough to want to hook them.

This geo floral below was recently listed and still available.  No date or dimensions were offered, guess they want an inquiry from someone with interest to buy before they provide that info.  It is easy on the eyes but won't be on my list to hook.

Next one is weirdly interesting, however I do not intend to hook it either.  A crowned King circa 1900 measuring 18.5 x 24.  What, pray tell, is he holding in his hand???  Still offered for sale if anyone is interested in owning this piece.

  P.S.  I  think Robin knows what is in the King's hand, read what she said in the "comment" section.

Although a scrappy hooked piece I suspect Janice will like these two bunnies.  It measures 22 x 30 but auction house did not provide age.

This horse was promoted as a Canadian hooked rug but no other information was provided.

A cartoonish portrayal of a cat and dog, 19th century (19.5 x 32).

And finally, a cats paw rug with squiggly hit and miss border.

Well folks, here's my contribution to the rug hooking readership.  Gonna be a few days of extremely hot and humid weather.  I'll be staying inside and hope my A/C continues to work.

Saundra

WHAT'S NEXT YOU ASK

I still hadn't decided what to hook next, someone else decided that for me.  You're probably thinking..."that someone certainly must have a lot of clout".  Yes indeed.  Never should have bestowed the moniker of Princess or that she is the daughter I never had.  You guessed it, the person with clout is the spoiled Princess DIL Cathy.  During her recent visit she made a comment that "she still hasn't gotten her cat rug".  Huh, I just hooked a Snowman rug for her 7 months ago as a Christmas gift, lol.

Many months ago I took a couple photos of her Siamese cat just in case I was to hook a rug for her.  And Cathy cashed in on that comment.  So, since there was nothing of interest I'd chosen to put on my frame, I decided to start her Christmas gift early.

The two photos I have aren't photographer winning photos nor are they a rug hooker's delight to draw and hook.  But here they are.

Briefly considered googling Siamese cat photos on the internet but since Cathy knew I had photos of her fur baby thought it wrong to use a random picture.

The cat in a box was cute and typical cat playing in a box instead of with purchased toys.  But hooking the box and cat with similar colors, the cat would get lost.  However, I like the cat's position and colors show up better in the second photo.  So will use the cat shape but do a sofa color background.  This is what I've accomplished so far.

It sorta looks like an animal version of a movie called Phantom of the Opera at the moment.  

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Saundra 

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